Our Family Grows
by LobsterLobster
Summary: A new addition to the Grimes clan is on the way. Everyone is excited and nervous, especially Rick Grimes. (My first fic request!) Chapter 2: Maggie reflects on her life while babysitting Desiree.
1. Chapter 1 - RickMichonne

Our Family Grows

Story Prompt (courtesy of THE AWESOME RACEHORSE): "Can you please write a story where Rick and Michonne have a baby together? I think that'd be adorable."

…..

"How many babies have you delivered?" Rick asked anxiously.

He already knew the answer but he couldn't help asking anyway.

"This is my first," Carol replied from the foot of the bed, careful to keep her expression calm.

Even if it was her first time helping with a delivery, Carol was still the most qualified person in Alexandria. She was a mother herself and she still remembered the lessons Hershel had given her in preparation for Lori's delivery; lessons she never got the chance to use.

However, now was not the time to remind Rick of that part of their past. He was nervous enough as it was.

"Mine, too," Eugene spoke up, peering curiously over Carol's shoulder.

Rick raised an eyebrow, still not entirely sure why Eugene was present at all.

"But, I assure you, I have read The Practical Manual to Labor and Delivery a grand total of seven times, cover to cover," Eugene assured the room.

"AAGHHHHH!" Michonne gritted her teeth as another painful contraction gripped her body.

Rick gave her his hand and she clutched it with all her strength, like a sailor on a sinking ship, holding on for dear life.

"The contractions are coming more quickly. It won't be long now," Carol said.

Michonne squeezed her eyes shut, grimacing from the pain. Rick felt the cold anxiety in the pit of his stomach bubble up and spread through his chest. He hated sitting there unable to do anything to help.

He stood up abruptly, "I'll go get a –"

"No!" Michonne interrupted, yanking hard on his hand, "You stay right here!"

Rick obeyed, sitting back down again. He risked a glance at Carol who, as expected, gave him a harsh glare.

'Get your shit together, Grimes!' Carol's cool blue eyes ordered him.

Rick had no choice but to swallow his fear and rise to the occasion. The woman he loved more than anything in the world needed him to be strong.

"I'm here, Michonne," he said softly, rubbing the back of her hand, "You've got this."

"Here," Eugene handed Rick a small towel, which he used to wipe the sweat from Michonne's forehead.

"We're almost there! Come on, Michonne! One more big push!" Carol encouraged her friend.

Michonne screamed as she pushed again, concentrating all of her strength on this one goal.

"Oh my!" Carol's excitement got the best of her as she caught the baby in her hands.

Michonne collapsed back onto her pillow in relief. Rick felt his heart pounding in his ears. Then the sound of a baby crying filled the room and he could breathe again.

Eugene was ready with sterilized scissors to cut the umbilical cord and a warm towel to clean up the baby.

"Congratulations," Carol grinned, looking up from the baby in her arms, "You have a beautiful baby girl."

She stood up and carefully transferred the bundled infant to Rick's waiting arms.

Looking into his daughter's tiny round face for the first time, the cold fear that had sat in the back of his mind for months suddenly dissipated. Despite his nightmares of history repeating itself, Michonne was alive and well and his baby daughter was blinking up at him. His fear was replaced by a new, fierce love.

Rick turned, feeling like he was in a dream. Michonne reached out her arms and Rick settled their precious bundle onto her chest.

Michonne's smile radiated the same love and relief that Rick felt.

"She's beautiful," Michonne breathed, tears in her eyes.

Eugene finished cleaning up and left to tell everyone the good news. Barely a moment after he left the room, Carl burst inside.

"Michonne?!" Carl rushed to her side and hugged her.

"I'm okay, Carl," she assured him, "Everything's okay."

The teen pulled back and breathed a sigh of relief.

"I wasn't worried," Carl lied, smiling at Michonne and the baby.

Despite being happy that Michonne and his dad were together, Carl took the news of her pregnancy pretty hard, barely talking to anyone for days. Finally Michonne cornered him and, correctly guessing that he was thinking about what happened to his mom, did her best to alleviate his fears.

They were safe in Alexandria, safer than they ever were at the prison. And on top of that, Michonne told him, there had been no complications with Andre's birth.

Michonne ruffled his hair affectionately.

"She's so little," Carl said, peering at his new baby sister, "and cute!"

The baby girl, her cries now quieted, was blinking curiously at the world. Her coloring was a little bit lighter than her mom's but she clearly had Michonne's eyes, in addition to chubby cheeks and thin wisps of hair on her head. She was very cute.

There was a knock at the door and Maggie poked her head in, "Are you taking visitors?"

Rick glanced at Michonne, who nodded.

"Come on in," Rick said.

Maggie entered the room, holding a squirmy Judith on her hip, followed closely by Glenn and Daryl. Glenn stood at the end of the bed beside Carol, smiling widely.

"Congrats, brother," Daryl said, clapping Rick on the back and smiling as much as Daryl Dixon ever smiled.

Judith stretched her arms out towards Michonne and Maggie set her on the bed next to her mother.

"Judith, this is your baby sister," Michonne told the toddler gently.

Nobody was sure how Judith would react, after being the only baby in the whole community for so long.

"Baby?" the little girl questioned, eyeing the tiny bundle in Michonne's arms with a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

"What are you going to name her?" Maggie asked.

Michonne looked up at Rick.

"It's your call," Rick told her, suddenly realizing that they had never even talked about names. The past few months had been a whirlwind.

Besides, he thought, Michonne did all the hard work. She deserved to choose the name.

"Her name is Desiree," Michonne said thoughtfully.

"Pretty," Carl said, nodding approvingly.

Judith leaned her face in close to Desiree's, curious to see who this new baby was. Desiree opened her mouth in a big smile, which made Judith giggle. Carl kneeled by the edge of the bed and let Desiree wrap her tiny hand around his finger.

Michonne watched them with a tired smile on her face. She looked happier than she had in months, probably happier than Rick had ever seen her.

Rick looked around him and saw the faces of all the people who he loved most in the world. They had lost many more along the way but the people right here in this room were his family.

His vision started to blur. He blinked several times but it didn't help.

"Rick?" Michonne asked him, concerned.

He gave in and wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

"Dad? Are you okay?" Carl asked.

Rick nodded, struggling to compose himself.

"I'm so happy," he said, resting one hand on Michonne's arm and wiping his eyes again with the other.

"Me too," Michonne said sincerely, her own tears of joy threatening to spill over.

"Stop it, you two," Glenn said, teasing, "You're going to make Daryl cry!"

Everyone laughed and Carol elbowed Glenn in the side.

After a few minutes, Carol said, "Let's give Michonne some time to rest," and ushered everyone out of the room.

Rick stayed behind, holding Michonne's hand once more. Her eyelids were already getting heavy.

Before the door swung shut, they heard Carl saying aloud, "But really, was it too much to ask for a brother this time?"

…..

And then they lived happily ever after!

The End!

A/N: Please tell me what you think! I hope you liked it. Also feel free to send me more fic requests!

BONUS TRIVIA: If you can answer the following two items, I will personally mail you a box of peanut butter protein bars.

Name the Firefly episode that I'm referencing in the beginning!

Name the OneRepublic song that inspired Baby Richonne's name!


	2. Chapter 2 - GlennMaggie

Our Family Grows

Chapter 2

Maggie sat in a rocking chair in a quiet bedroom. She cradled Desiree in her arms, rocking gently back and forth.

The baby was about a week old. Michonne was in the other room, sleeping, and everyone else was busy working, so Maggie volunteered to babysit.

"Shhh, sweetie, shhhh…let's get some sleep," Maggie murmured softly to a fussy Desiree.

The tiny girl gradually calmed down and was lulled into sleep. Gazing down at Desiree's soft cheeks, her fine eyelashes, her button nose, Maggie found herself remembering the first time that she ever held a baby.

Maggie was four years old when Beth was born. Beth's mom was Maggie's stepmom and it wasn't until Beth was born that Maggie began to feel that they were a real family.

She remembered her dad telling her to sit on the couch and to be extra careful, then placing baby Beth in her waiting arms. She remembered looking at her sister's big blue eyes and feeling so proud that she was old enough to hold her.

Maggie would give anything to go back to those happy days with her family.

After Beth died, Maggie felt so lost. For a long time she didn't know if she could hold on, didn't know if she wanted to. But Glenn stayed by her side and eventually she realized that, as much as she missed the people she'd lost, there were still good things about this life.

Glenn was her family now, along with Tara and Carol and Rick and Michonne and everyone else. And now little Desiree, too. Maggie wouldn't trade them for anything.

"Maggie?" Glenn appeared at the door, "What's wrong?"

She looked up and blinked, realizing that there were tears running down her face. Maggie sniffled and wiped at her eyes.

"I'm okay," she told Glenn, who was now kneeling at her side.

"What is it?" he asked, frowning with concern.

"Just look at her, Glenn…She's so precious," Maggie said, looking down at the baby in her arms.

Glenn nodded, "She is."

He reached over and carefully tucked one of Desiree's hands back inside the folds of her blanket and waited for Maggie to say what was on her mind.

"I was thinking about Rick and Michonne. About how, after every awful, horrible thing they've been through, both of them, they found a way to be happy," Maggie spoke thoughtfully.

She's seen both of Desiree's parents at probably the lowest points in their lives. When Michonne first arrived at the prison, she was cold and distant, barely talking to anyone, reluctant to let herself get attached to anyone again. When Lori died, Rick wandered around chasing after ghosts, nearly letting his guilt and his pain eat him up.

"They both found something to live for," Maggie continued, "They deserve to be happy."

Maggie turned her head to look into Glenn's eyes.

"And we deserve to be happy, too," she said.

Glenn cocked his head thoughtfully, sensing that his wife's words meant something more.

"What are you saying?" he asked.

"I'm saying…" Maggie looked pointedly at Desiree and then back at Glenn, a smile tugging at her lips, "I think I want one."

Glenn's eyes went wide, "A baby? You want a baby?"

"Yeah. I do. Is it that much of a surprise?" Maggie said.

"No, no. Well, yes. I mean…" Glenn stammered, trying to choose his words carefully, "I know you were thinking about it, at the prison, before…but so much has happened."

"I know," Maggie said, gathering her thoughts.

"I know how I was, after Beth, after everything. And I know that things could be bad again. But right now, things are good. We're safe here. We should be happy," she said earnestly.

Glenn couldn't contain how good it felt to hear his wife so full of hope.

He broke into a smile, "Okay."

"Okay? That's it?" Maggie couldn't help but smile back.

"Yes! Let's do it! Let's have a baby!" Glenn declared excitedly.

He leaned over and kissed Maggie squarely on the lips. She returned the kiss warmly but after a few seconds broke away laughing.

"We can't start right this second!" Maggie giggled, adjusting the still sleeping Desiree in her arms.

"Right, of course," Glenn smirked, "We'll wait for tonight."

Maggie laughed, enjoying the rare cheerful moment. Hopefully they would have many more happy moments to come.

Glenn looked like he was considering something.

"Can I hold her?" Glenn asked, indicating Desiree.

"Alright," Maggie agreed, "Here, sit on the bed."

Glenn moved to the bed, adjusting the pillows behind his back. Maggie got up and joined him, carefully passing Desiree to her husband.

Once they were settled, Desiree only fussing a little bit before dozing off again, Glenn found himself staring at her tiny, angelic face.

"She really melts your heart, doesn't she?" Glenn said softly.

"Mhmm," Maggie agreed, snuggling in close to Glenn and resting her head on his shoulder.

"What do you want? A boy or a girl?" Glenn asked.

"I don't care," Maggie said softly, caressing the sleeping baby's head, "What do think, Desi? Do you want a little girl cousin or a boy cousin?"

Glenn commented, "Poor Carl is going to cry if it's another girl."

Maggie laughed, "Hey, you had only sisters and you turned out just fine."

This felt good, sitting together and talking about something besides food or fighting, holding a little piece of hope between them. Maggie brushed Glenn's dark hair out of his eyes and kissed him tenderly.

…

The End!

(For real this time!)


End file.
